Hi all, I see the new Cruisers come with a 31" TV. Can anyone tell me the make & model? I'm considering replacing mine. I don't watch much tv at all but when I do I'd like to be able to actually see it.

How thick is that 32" Samsung? How stable is the TV when you are on the open road? Does it move around a lot? After a 2 hour movie, when you put your hand above it, is the area very warm?

I ask because our 7 year old 26" Samsung is the older thicker florescent back-lit type. The TV gets hot up top that it was a bit concerning for the life of the TV. I ended up installing a 5" computer style fan behind the TV to circulate the air in back which did resolve my heat problem.

What bothers me is that heat = power and I was wondering if the new thin TVs run cooler. That would help with battery reserves. When we boondock, we most often will watch TV in our bedroom on our little 19" with built-in DVD player. The batteries hold up much better that way.

Ron: It is about 12.5 lbs, and doesn't move around a bit. The thickness is 3.7 inch. I'll check the heat level next time I'm at the rig. The Energy Star label lists it at the extreme low end of like models, with a rating of $6/yr. Here is a Consumer Reports review with specs....

Thanks Mike. Good data there that I can compare the power consumption of my old set against.

To all of you with the new 32" sets mentioned.....How is the "Rattling" factor? Does your set rattle or make vibrating noises from the road? Our older TV did from all the sheet metal work inside the TV. I ended up opening the back of the TV, placing felt pads in strategic places to prevent the sheet metal from resonating. It's been quiet since. I should have done that right away. Years later, I've finally been able to drive in peace. Oh, also adding the same chair foot felt pads to the roof top antenna too. No more banging from up there.

Noises can be hard to track down and resolve. One more recent resolution was coming from our microwave oven. The front mounting screws became loose from the miles. I tightened them up and all is quiet there too. It's an on-going thing. Another recently developing banging noise was coming from the front cabinets. Per PC instructions, I screwed the base of the front cabinets into the Ford roof and that irritation is no longer. You can read about that one here: http://www.phoenixusarv.com/community/index.php/topic,1526.0.html

No noise from inside the TV. We have a slight rubbing squeak from the top left edge where it touches the cabinet that I plan to resolve with the magic felt pads now that you reminded me while we are in camp. The TV is butted up right against the cabinets.

A note for those planning to swap out their TV - consider attaching an HDMI cable prior to mounting. Phoenix did this for us and we can hook our computers or Kindles to feed through the TV. The cable just pops out the top of the front wood facing in the side cabinet (I think they slipped it through between facing and ceiling). I had to add a male to female adaptor to connect but it all works great. I plan to set up a photo file of our favorite family, friends and travel pics. The TV will become a giant digital photo frame as well as a place to stream videos when we have connection and enough data.

The bigger the TV, the better, as long as it fits properly. Many of the newest TVs have a very small frame, some frameless from the front view so you get a lot more screen in the same physical size. That's sweet. They are thinner too. If our 26" ever goes dead, I'll be looking into one of those. Our 26" is a very nice size for us, but bigger yet is better yet.

Look at the wide plastic frame on our Samsung here. That black plastic is now screen space on the new TVs.

Nice! A big difference from what I have now. Like I said, I don't watch much TV, so it's not an immediate need but I would like something better with USB input for pics & movies. One thing I will miss from that dinky little TV is the over-the-air program guide. It's a nice feature and one which I guess fell out of favor with manufacturers. It certainly was nowhere as good as my Tivo guide but way better than nothing. Ah well.

Well, I got the new TV in today. I opted for a 29". I measured a few times and decided that was as big as I wanted to go. I think I'm glad I did. I went with the Samsung UN29F4000 and am very happy with the color and sound.

(Oh, and the hanging wires are from the old tv....I was just in a hurry to get back to work and hadn't pulled them out yet)